Bleeding
by Octopus Guardian
Summary: It was just a normal day for Junpei. This was not supposed to happen. Regardless, he is in a very bad situation and he's not going to get out of it without help. Very vague description, I know. Basically a Junpei torture fic. bECAUSE WHY NOT.
1. Chapter 1

"Ok that's enough for today! We'll meet up again next week, same time. Remember, keep on practicing your catches and make sure to practice your bat swings. Oh, Ichi! Practice tossing balls too! You are the pitcher after all, and I'd like to see you practice that fastball technique I showed you. Bye!" Junpei called out to all the kids he coached as he packed his equipment back up.

The kids waved to him with grins on their faces and wearing dirty pants and shoes. Junpei waved and smiled back, following them into the parking lot to make sure they were all picked up by their parents. Some of the kids ran back to him to give him a high-five or thank him. He was a great coach after all. Everything was normal except for one thing. One person, more like it. The guy was tall and he stood off in the shadows, staring at them all. Needless to say it made Junpei feel extremely uncomfortable. He decided to stay a bit longer to wait for the last kids' parents to come and pick them up. The guy just stayed still and kept staring.

 _Should I go confront him? This guy definitely isn't normal._

The last parents came, the last goodbyes were said and the guy still stood in the same place. Unmoving. Never blinking.

 _Alright, that's it._

But before Junpei could even take a step towards him, the man started walking in his direction. Junpei panicked. _Did he want to talk to me? What the heck is wrong with this guy? Am I just tired? Maybe he's normal and I'm just over reacting. I've never seen him before. Is he-_

"Hey, are you Junpei?" he asked.

Junpei nodded."Yeah that's me. Something I can help you with?"

"Junpei as in, the Persona-user?" He asked.

"Yep, that's-"

Wait.

"How the hell do you-" Junpei started to yell, eyes widening.

The man quickly pulled out something from his coat. Junpei stumbled away from him and tried to get a look at the object. It was a gun.

 _Wait, no. Not just a normal gun. That's-_

The guy had an evoker with him. He raised it to his head and clicked the trigger. In a flash of blue light, a persona appeared in view. It was tall and lanky, hunched over so its back arched up. It wore a grey mask that looked like a phantom of the opera mask, covering half of its face. It had armor that covered its chest and legs that looked like they were made entirely of metal. It pulled out a long sword from its back and pointed it at Junpei.

"How…where…it's not even the dark hour how did you…" Junpei sputtered.

"Listen son, I just have some questions for you. You can come quietly, or I'll use force. Simple right?" The man looked at him with a bored face, which made things even creepier for Junpei. The fact that the guy could keep such an indifferent face in such a situation astounded Junpei.

His bag. Maybe he could pull out a bat and get a good hit in for a head start. The bag wasn't fully zipped and Junpei could see the handle of his metal bat inside. He glanced at the guy and put his hands up.

"Alright dude, chill. I'll come along. Just calm down. I don't want any trouble," Junpei risked another glance at his bag and his bat inside. He'd have to be really quick to pull this off.

"Good, I thought I'd have to knock you out. Believe me, I didn't want to drag you off. This was easier than expected," the man chuckled. "I knew you were a weak-Ooof!" The man grunted, getting a hard bat slammed into his stomach. He hadn't been paying enough attention, and with lightning speed, Junpei grabbed the bat and swung as hard as he could into the guy's torso.

The man recoiled in pain, holding his stomach and groaning. Junpei turned around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He had left his bag, but that wasn't really as important as his life. He could hear the guy shouting curses behind him and heard pounding footsteps start after him.

 _Where can I go to? I can't just run into a store and expect him to not follow me in_. Junpei thought, looking around him in a vain attempt to see someone he knew, or anyone at all who could help him.

The guy was catching up, the pounding of his footsteps becoming louder. Junpei made a sharp turn to the right. He heard a loud crack behind him and immediately looked back to see the persona's long blade stuck in the ground.

"Woah!" Junpei had to yell. Thank god he had made that turn. He kept running down the sidewalk, becoming aware of a pressure he felt in his pocket. His cellphone!

He pulled it out and flipped it open. It still had a good charge. Who was he going to call? Yukari was too far away and she probably wouldn't even pick up. Mitsuru would be too busy to pick up too. Junpei had no idea where Fuuka was at the moment. Maybe Akihiko? He was nearby and with enough luck, he might pick up. Junpei went to his contacts and pressed on Aki's name.

Ring

The footsteps were still getting louder and Junpei prayed that the persona wouldn't attack again.

Ring

 _Come on! Please!_

Ring

…

 _Beep_

" _Hello?"_

"Aki! You gotta help me!" Junpei screeched into the phone, reaching another street corner and turning left this time to cross the street.

" _What do you need. And I swear if it's something stupid I'll-"_

"There's a guy chasing after me! He's got an evoker and a persona! I don't know who he is but he is _really_ angry! And I kinda swung a bat into his stomach so if you could hurry-"

" _Wait, he has a what?"_ This time Akihiko interrupted. _"That's impossible, it's not even the Dark Hour! Is this a prank?"_

"I'm not joking, please! AHHHH!" Junpei yelled, dodging another swing from the large blade. The crack in the cement was much larger than the last one. Akihiko must have heard the sound, because he sounded much more concerned when he spoke again.

" _Where are you right now? What's the guy look like?"_

"He's-" But Junpei didn't get to finish, due to a large force knocking him to the ground. His phone skidded a few feet away from him and a hand grabbed Junpei's head and slammed it to the cement.

It hurt like hell and Junpei tried to get the guy off of him, but he was too strong. The guy picked him up by the neck and rammed Junpei's head against the building next to them. His vision blurred at first and then things started to go dark. He could only hear his own grunts of pain and the faint sound of Akihiko's voice still trying to reach him on the phone before he blacked out.

" _Hey Junpei! You still there? Pick up! Answer me, dammit!"_

The man looked to the phone, contemplating whether to answer him or crush it. He decided the more interesting thing to do would be to answer.

"Sorry, Junpei's not available right now. He's bleeding on the sidewalk. Don't worry, I'll take him with me," the man spoke into the phone with a sadistic tone in his voice.

"Who the hell are you? How do you have an evoker? What are you going to do with-" Akihiko was cut off again, by the phone being thrown against the road and shattering on impact.

The man picked up Junpei and put him over his shoulder.

"Nice job," the man praised his persona before recalling it. It disappeared in another flash of light and the tall man walked off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

When Junpei awoke, he wasn't anticipating pitch black. His head hurt like hell, and he had no clue where he was. He tried to move, but found his hands stuck together, tied above his head.

Junpei groaned. _How did I get here?_ He racked his brain to remember the events before he woke here.

"Oh great, your awake already. Now we can start," a voice to the left of him spoke.

The lights turned on, blinding Junpei for a minute. He squinted his eyes and let his eyes adjust to his surroundings.

It was an empty room, with only a chair in front of him and a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. The light was pretty weak and immediately began flickering. It only illuminated a small part of the room. To the left of him stood a man in a doorway. That guy…

He was the same one who attacked him.

Memories flooded back into Junpei as he began panicking. Whoever this guy was, he was undoubtedly dangerous.

"So, I realize I didn't introduce myself last night," the guy started talking again, snapping Junpei out of his terrifying thoughts. "My name is Don."

Don. A surprisingly normal name for a maniac.

"Now I know your probably scared, confused, maybe even a little hungry," Don began, and upon saying so, Junpei realized he was famished. When had he eaten last?

"You might think that I'm going to hurt you. Let me clarify for you, I won't hurt you if you answer my questions. I mean, it's tempting as hell to punch you for that stunt you pulled last night with the bat, but I'm doing my best to restrain myself. Do you understand?"

That was a lot for Junpei to take in, but he nodded slowly and tried to shift himself in a better position. Everything was so surreal, he still was in shock.

Don moved out of the doorway into the chair in front of Junpei. Under the light, Junpei could get a better look at him. Don had a thin face, pale with dark green eyes that flickered with interest. He wore a belt with a holster, holding the evoker he had _somehow_ gotten ahold of. The long sleeve shirt and pants he wore prevented Junpei from seeing too much of anything else.

"Let's start," Don looked at Junpei in the eyes and smiled. _God, he's creepy,_ Junpei thought.

"How many people were in your little group back then? Where are they now?" Don asked.

"Why do you need to know?" Junpei shot back.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, however _you_ can answer _my_ question," Don answered quickly, as if expecting the question.

Junpei bit his lip. _This dude is insane; I can't answer his question. Who knows what he's up to?_ Junpei stayed in his thoughts, unaware of Don until he was slapped harshly across the face.

"You've taken too much of my time, I didn't want to have to resort to this but," Don stood up as Junpei winced from the hit. "I'm going to have to use force to get you to crack."

Don left the room and Junpei wiggled against his bonds. He attempted to kick his legs, but they were tied to the ground and his hands were still tied above his head. He grunted as he tried to loosen the rope, but it was tied together too well. Junpei grew more frightened by the minute. Where did he go? How did he know about S.E.E.S? What does he want? Questions flashed through his head like bullets until soft footsteps echoing from the doorway made him look towards the room's only exit.

Don appeared in the doorway again and walked into the room, this time accompanied by a large duffel bag. He placed the bag on the chair and unzipped it.

"You know," Don broke the silence and looked up at Junpei. "I kind of lied earlier," he pulled out a long knife out of the bag. "I did want to use force. This is going to be hilarious."

With that, he set the knife down and began pulling out all kinds of things from the bag. Junpei's breathing grew faster and heavier with each item. An assortment of knives. A sledgehammer. Nails. Barbed wire. A bone saw. A blowtorch. A freaking _chainsaw_.

The bag still appeared to have more things in it, but Don set the bag aside and picked up the coil of barbed wire.

Junpei shook his head furiously, pressing his back into the wall behind him. He could feel the sweat on his shirt and he desperately looked around. Maybe his friends would come? Maybe Akihiko would burst in and punch this bastard in the face. Then Mitsuru would thoroughly execute his captor and Yukari would scold Junpei for getting in such a bad situation. All false hope. No-one came, and Don began wrapping the barbed wire around Junpei's neck.

Immediately Junpei struggled, but it only proved painful. With every move, it stressed the wire and forced it into his skin. His neck began lightly bleeding and stinging, with the wire sticking into his open cuts and burning. Junpei hissed in pain, causing Don to momentarily stop and smile at him.

"As much as I want to hurt you, I don't have to. Just answer my questions and this will all be over," Don began wrapping his neck slower this time, eyes still trained on Junpei. He grabbed a knife and cut the wire loose from the coil, placing the coil on the ground next to him.

"Go to hell," Junpei growled at him.

He didn't have time to react as a small knife was shoved into his thigh. Junpei cried out, his back arching in pain.

Don leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "Wrong answer."

 **Author's Note: Whilst writing this chapter, I realized it would be much easier for me to give my antagonist a name rather than refer to him as "Tall guy", so I asked myself, what name should I give him? The first name my brain supplied me with was Don. The fact Don was the first name my brain thought of to give to this psychotic character was so hilarious to me that I decided to stick with it. And so Don was born. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, there's more pain and torture to come, so stick around readers!**


	3. Chapter 3

Junpei was left alone after his first encounter. Blood stained his pant leg and dripped down further with every minute. Don had left the knife in and Junpei began to get used to the burning sensation of pain. Every shift of his head proved painful for his neck, which was beginning to get raw with cuts and scrapes. The small streams of blood running down his neck felt sticky and the smell was awful.

 _I gotta get out of here,_ Junpei thought. He wanted to look around the room for something to cut the ropes holding him, but his neck was suffering terribly and felt stiff. Junpei took a deep breath and shifted a small bit at a time, hoping to cause his throat as minimal damage as possible. He bent his head down, inch by inch, until he faced the chair. The weapons were still in the same place, waiting. Junpei eyed the knife closest to him on the ground.

He moved his uninjured right leg as close as his bonds would allow to the knife. It just reached, the tip of his foot brushed against it. Slowly, he dragged the knife towards him.

 _Great, now what?_

His hands were stuck; he wouldn't be able to grip the knife. Junpei mentally face palmed. This was not thought out well.

With a heavy heart and pain spreading through his body, Junpei felt a wave of sleepiness and nausea hit his head and stomach. His eyelids sagged. When had he slept last. How long had he been out since he'd been kidnapped? Eventually, Junpei passed out in a less than comfortable position, head drooped and the barbed wire cutting in.

\/\/\/\/\/\/

Junpei awoke to water being forced down his throat. He coughed and gagged from the liquid unexpectedly entering his throat. This time, Junpei realized where he was much sooner. Don stood before him with a water bottle and his damn creepy grin.

"I'm back," Don announced, setting the water bottle down and replacing it with the sledgehammer in his hand.

Junpei coughed up the last of the water that invaded his windpipe and glared at him.

"Have you decided to answer my questions?" Don moved the torture devices off the chair and sat down, resting the sledgehammer in his lap.

"I won't tell you anything," Junpei answered.

Don stood up raising the sledgehammer above his head.

"If you don't tell me how many people are in your group, I'm going to shatter each one of your bones slowly until there's none left," Don gripped the hammer tighter, waiting for an answer.

Sweat formed in Junpei's palms. This was going to be painful.

"I-I'm not going to answer tha-" Junpei didn't get a chance to answer, because the sledgehammer was slammed into his right leg, putting both of his limbs out of commission. His scream echoed through the room.

"You certain 'bout that?" Don smirked and raised the hammer again. His hands gripped the handle again, pulling all his weight to cause the most damage.

"Eight!" Junpei screamed before Don could bring down the weapon again.

"What?" Don relaxed his muscles and lowered his tool.

Junpei cursed to himself. The word had slipped in his panic of being injured again.

"There's eight of you huh?" Don leaned the hammer against the chair and folded his arms.

Junpei stayed silent, feeling weak for letting the man have even an ounce of information.

"Can you name 'em all?" Don asked. Junpei pressed his lips together and tried to look away, but the barbed wire appeared to have been tightened. He couldn't move his head.

"Hey, I just want to know their names. Is that too much to ask?" Don's tone was joking, but it made Junpei sick. He had to be asking these questions for a reason and Junpei was determined to keep his mouth shut.

"I already know about your dead friends. What were their names? Minato and Shinjiro? That sounds right. I've done as much research I could on you persona-users, but Miss Kirijo has been very protective about her information. I haven't been able to find much," Don rasped.

At the mention of his fallen friends, Junpei stiffened. How long had this guy been working on trying to find them?

"You know, I really didn't want to resort to this so quickly, but this is getting bland," Don reached for his evoker.

Junpei's eyes widened. He wasn't seriously going to use his persona on him, was he?

"I'm sure your confused to how I obtained this," Don pointed to the evoker in his hand. "Allow me to put your mind at ease."

He aimed it at his head and pulled the trigger, releasing his terrifying persona in a flash of blue light.

"I obtained him a while ago, when the end of the world was upon us all. I was being attacked by these black creatures you know as shadows. It just came out of me. I didn't need an evoker the first time, but now it's become harder to summon. You see, from my understanding, my persona is somewhat… different than yours," Don began.

"It has special powers that I haven't seen mentioned in any of the files I've found. How I got those files, I won't tell you, but you're going to be the lucky person to experience these amazing abilities. I found your group after I discovered my persona. You and your stupid friends really ticked me off, ya know? You just went around, a bunch of ignorant children, and prevented the end from coming. The end was our savior!" Don's voice started rising into a shout.

"From then I knew I would have to kill you all. I will find a way to bring the end back, but first I have to get rid of all of _you_ ," Don sneered.

Junpei felt his heart begin to beat faster as he looked from Don to the persona behind him. Don leaned in closer to Junpei.

"I built this evoker using the blueprints from the files you tried to hide. It took me a damn long time, but I finally finished building it. I was working so hard for so long and now I'm about to be rewarded for all that I've done," Don muttered.

Don snapped his fingers and stepped back. His persona shifted slightly, before slowly moving towards Junpei. It began taking the armor off of its hand, piece by piece, revealing skinny hands. The fingers were long needles, sharp and rusty looking.

Whatever it was about to do wasn't going to be a good thing. Junpei struggled to move, to get the hell away from this thing.

"Help!" Junpei screamed as loud as he could. "Please! Someone help me!"

The persona was upon him now. The needle-like fingers raised level to Junpei's forehead. Before he could even scream, the needles shot forward and stuck themselves into his head. Junpei immediately fell unconscious, not ready for the literal hell that was going to take place.

 **Author's Note: I'm not sure I'm ready for the hell I'm about to write. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

Junpei took a deep breath when he opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was back at the dorm, staring at the front door. He quickly stood up and turned every which way, trying to figure out _how_ he had gotten there in the first place.

His eyes stopped at the corner of the room. There, in the shadows, was the persona that had attacked him. It only watched him. The two were locked in a staring contest, Junpei from fear and the persona from… interest.

Footsteps coming from the stairs finally broke the trance Junpei had been stuck in and he looked over with a bad feeling in his stomach.

A pair of legs were visible at first, walking down, revealing more of their body until a figure stood at the bottom of the steps. Minato.

"M-Minato?" Junpei stammered. He could barely speak, his voice was rough and it came out more like a cough.

Minato only glared at him and continued walking over to him until he was face to face.

"Why didn't you help me that night, Junpei?" His voice was the same yet it was also distant, as if it was the result of an echo.

Junpei was speechless. Minato was gone. He was… dead. But here he was. Right in front of him. Junpei's brain couldn't work out what to say or think. He was just confused.

"You just sat there. You did nothing while you watched me go to fight that thing. And now, guess what? I'm dead! You know why? Because you. Are. Useless," Minato stated with a menacing glare.

 _Useless_.

That word floated around Junpei's head while he tried to grasp reality. Minato scoffed, then walked past Junpei towards the door.

"Wait!" Junpei shouted. "I did want to help! I _tried_ to help. I couldn't move! No-one could! We all wanted to help so bad, but we were too late. I was too late. You left to fight that thing on your own. You're still fighting it! I'm sorry I couldn't do anything!"

Minato stopped in his tracks. Without turning, he answered, " _Liar_."

With that, Minato opened the door and walked out, leaving a devastated broken heart behind him.

Junpei was silent and wide eyed. _How could he say that? This isn't happening._

Junpei looked around again, finding his eyes drawn to the persona again. _This isn't real. He wasn't real._ Junpei grit his teeth. This was all fake. Some sort of mind trick. Wherever he was, none of it was true. He wouldn't believe any of it.

"Nice try," He growled, shooting a glare at the devil in the corner and following the path Minato took out the door.

He had been expecting the street to be ahead of him. The sidewalk, road, more buildings, like he had seen when he lived in the dorm. Instead he was greeted with a dirty, musty apartment. The smell of alcohol filled his nostrils and he instantly pinched his nose shut. Junpei gagged. He took a step forward, resulting in a crunching sound. His eyes followed the sound to the ground.

Broken glass. Beer bottle fragments littered the ground. An empty bottle of cooking wine underneath the stained coffee table to his right.

 _Oh god. Not here. Anywhere but here._

Junpei certainly did not want to come face to face with his old man now. Especially in this fake world. He turned around to go back into the dorm, but there was no door behind him. He cursed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

He started rushing through the rooms to get to the front door of the apartment. Sounds of crunching bottles or empty food wrappers followed his steps.

His stomach dropped when he reached the room where the front door was; "was" being the key word. The door was gone. An empty wall stood in its place.

"Hey," a deep voice behind Junpei made him freeze. He didn't want to turn around and see the drunken mess of his father. Just thinking about that stupid old man made Junpei's blood boil.

"Hey!" His dad's voice was louder this time, followed by a pair of feet stomping over next to him. Junpei closed his eyes and tried to control his rage. Just thinking about his childhood was painful.

A sharp pain in his shoulder finally made him move. Some glass from a beer bottle was shoved in. Junpei yelled out, wiping away the glass shards from his shoulder. The blood came out quick, Junpei had his hand stuck trying to put pressure to stop the blood.

"When I talk, I expect you to answer!" His father's voice was harsh. Junpei was grabbed roughly by the neck and thrown to the ground.

A small click sound made Junpei instantly jump back to his feet. _God not the belt._ He had been punished too many times by his old man. He was hit over the smallest things, ridiculed and made fun of all because his drunk parent.

"Get on your knees!" His dad shouted pulling the belt back.

Junpei stumbled as he tried to get out of the way. He was given a harsh hit on the face from the belt buckle and then fell back to the glass ridden floor.

"You're a disgrace. You're going to end up just like me. A drunken mess. You're never going to be able to get into college with your grades, or get a decent job. Face it, your worthless," His dad stared at him with disgust while talking. Junpei felt he had gotten used to the terrible things his dad told him as a kid, but it still hurt to hear it.

He pushed himself back up and his memories down and rushed to the doorway, running through the apartment searching for an escape. The door to his bedroom was available, so he ran full speed, blocking out the words his father was shouting and the thundering footsteps behind him.

He twisted the knob and flung the door open. He turned to shut it and lock it, only to find himself in another location. A baseball field.

More specifically, the baseball field where he taught the little league kids how to play.

All the kids were on the field, playing as if everything was normal and Junpei had not just come through some weird portal out of nowhere. This was different. Junpei took his hand away from his shoulder. No blood.

"I'm I still in the fake world?" Junpei wondered aloud. At the sound of his voice, the kids stopped what they were doing and smiled at him. Friendly smiles. Happy smiles.

"There's Coach Junpei!" One of the kids shouted and they all ran toward him. They were no different, not menacing or evil, just excited kids.

 _Was that some weird fever dream? Was I imagining all that?_

Junpei was incredibly confused. He shook out of his confusion when several of the kids screamed.

Don's persona stood in the middle of the field, on the pitcher's mound. All the kids had terrified looks and ran to Junpei for protection.

The persona was too quick. It grabbed one of the kids, a little girl Junpei recognized as Sani. She shrieked in terror. Junpei tried to move his body, but was unable to. His body was almost glued to the ground it seemed. His arms felt stiff, he couldn't flex his fingers or bend his elbows. He was stuck watching as the persona pulled out it's blade and cut Sani's head clean off. Her scream stopped immediately, but the other kid's only yelled louder.

The persona moved fast to grab each child, slicing one's stomach open, then cutting one to pieces. It all happened so fast, yet slow enough that Junpei could watch the fear in each child's eyes as they screamed his name for help, then died.

Soon Junpei was standing in a thin pool of blood, surrounded by bodies. His felt his muscles release and felt control come back to his body. He slunk to his knees, a terrified and destroyed look on his face. All of his kids were gone. He cared about each kid, helped all of them. He grew to know them and know what they liked and how to cheer them all up. He had learned all of their strengths and enjoyed helping them learn. Now…

Now they were dead.

Junpei made a choked sobbing sound, but no tears fell. He was crushed. He had watched those poor kids die. He couldn't do anything to help them.

Just like Minato.

He closed his eyes and laid his forehead against the bloody dirt. He really was useless and weak. He couldn't do anything right. He let out a scream and hit the ground as hard as he could.

A hand on his back made him jerk up, afraid of what was there waiting for him.

It was Chidori.

White dress and all, she stood next to him, looking at him. She didn't say anything, just sat down next to him and looked across the field.

Junpei looked at her, not even surprised or confused anymore. He was preparing himself for harsh words, or for her instant death as he sat there hopeless.

She sat still for what seemed to be ages, so long that Junpei wondered if he should say something. He felt prepared for anything that would happen next, but still broken over the massacre that had just taken place. Chidori finally looked over to Junpei and leaned over, putting her mouth next to his ear.

"I never should have saved your miserable life," she whispered. She didn't say it in a harsh voice. She said it in her usual voice, which made everything worse. Then, she stood up and left as quickly as she had come.

Junpei froze. He had thought he had prepared himself. He thought he was ready for the terrible feeling to come back. He wasn't.

In the next moment, Junpei was full out sobbing. Tears flowed from his eyes like an endless stream and he collapsed on the ground, curling up into a ball. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, sobbing harder when flashes of the events that had went by played in his memory.

\/\/\/\/\/\/

He was still sobbing just as hard when he finally opened his eyes in the real world, back in the torture chamber he was trapped in, with the rope digging into his wrists and ankles and the barbed wire cutting in his throat. The knife in his leg and the crushed bones in his other.

Don sat in front of him grinning, apparently pleased with the results. He watched as Junpei sobbed and bled over the dirty floor. His persona behind him played with it's needle fingers and tapped them together, almost as if in delight.

"You want to give me some answers now, or do you want to go through that again?" Don asked, the grin still dancing on his lips.

Junpei was unable to answer, stuck in his mad with despair state.

Don motioned to his persona and it moved forward, once again pushing it's hellish needles into Junpei.


	5. Chapter 5

Junpei had no clue how many days passed. It was the same damn thing every day. Woken up nearly choking to death with water shoved down his throat, a selection of weapons being used on various parts of his body, his least favorite one being a terrible burn from a blowtorch that burned up his right shoulder. Then, Don would summon his persona and put Junpei through that terrible hallucination again and again. It changed every time, but some things stayed consistent. The terrible trauma of not being able to move while he watched someone he cared about die stayed the same. Sometimes the dialogue would change, but they all had the same negative impact on him. Every time he would wake up from them he was asked the same damn thing.

 _"_ _Ready to answer my questions?"_

Junpei had long since collapsed against the wall after several hours of torture. He had several breakdowns during and after the sessions each day. He stopped trying to act tough. He _couldn't_ act tough. It hurt too much. He would let the tears fall without hiding them. It wouldn't make a difference.

Junpei tried to distract his mind with positive thoughts when Don was absent. _At least it was me, not Fuuka or Ken. Ken's too young to go through this. I doubt Fuuka would be able to last._ Once on the thought of his friends though, Junpei felt even worse. _Why haven't they come for me yet? Has Akihiko even done anything? Will they find me?_ And then, of course there was the bigger questions. _Am I gonna die here?_

These thoughts kept Junpei awake at what he assumed was nighttime, it was hard to tell in a room with no windows. The only light was that stupid one that flickered every couple of minutes. Junpei never thought he would actually be missing sunlight that much, but he began craving a look at the sun and the warmth.

 _Wonder what the kids are doing. Bet they're confused why I didn't show up._ Junpei chuckled a little, thinking of the nice kids he coached, but it was cut short when Junpei reminded himself of the painful memories of the hallucinations.

Junpei finally passed out from exhaustion, but was tormented by nightmares. Nightmares of Don and his persona either hurting him or his friends. He woke up, still tired and wishing he knew how much time had passed. He was pissed off that he couldn't get his damn mind off of all those bad thoughts, but didn't have much time to think about it. A large crash made him look up to the doorway. The barbed wire was still there and painful as ever, but his curiosity overruled it. He heard muffled talking outside the door, then a sudden explosion radiated through the building. The voices grew to shouting and Junpei though he recognized some of the voices.

 _Sounds like… Akihiko._

He immediately threw the thought out of his head. Don must have used his persona on him. This was too crazy to be real. The voices, the bangs. All fake.

 _Akihiko's never been in one of the hallucinations_ , a tiny voice in his head spoke up.

This made Junpei even more alert, pulling against his ropes with as much force as he could muster, which wasn't much. He wanted to call out, just to see if anyone would come in. Junpei couldn't find his voice to speak up. He was so tired. Maybe just a quick nap…

His head bobbed up and down and Junpei had trouble keeping his eyes open. He just wanted to die. He gave up on rescue, on the thought his head supplied himself with. _Just another fake scenario. This isn't real. It's not real._

It was hard to believe himself and he almost passed out. Almost. The sounds of bangs and crashing stopped. The only sound now was that of running feet. Junpei opened his eyes slowly and looked up again. It took a lot out of him, but he thought he saw something in the room with him.

 _"…_ _pei!"_

 _"…_ _hear me?"_

There was definitely someone next to him, Junpei knew that much. His vision was so blurred and his ears were filled with what almost seemed like static. He could hear the person next to him, but couldn't understand them. Then there was a faded sound, almost like two rocks being rubbed together.

The ropes holding Junpei's hands captive suddenly released, causing Junpei to crumble to the ground. The next sound wasn't pleasant and it was right next to his ear. Something was being moved back and forth near his neck, on the wire. It sounded like metal scraping. After a minute the sound stopped and a great release of pressure fell from Junpei's neck. The first sound resumed, this time near his feet. Junpei had trouble keeping himself awake through it all, moaning in pain and hearing a voice talk to him.

 _"…_ _be alright."_

 _"…_ _get you out… here."_

The voice seemed deep and calming, nice on the ears when he could understand what they were saying. He felt someone pick him up and a slight wind as the person ran through the building and outside. It was nighttime, but Junpei was relieved to see the light of the moon and the slight chill outside. It was then he finally went unconscious.

\/\/\/\/\/\/

Junpei woke up in bright room. He freaked out at first, not knowing what the hell was going on. He was lying in a small bed in a white room. The first thought his brain supplied him with was "mental asylum", which caused much panic in the poor teen. A lady in a lab coat walked in and assured him he was safe, that he was in a hospital under the care of doctors.

"You've gone through a lot, haven't you?" She asked in a soothing voice, finally calming Junpei down enough that his heart monitor stopped freaking out.

Junpei looked around him again, still not convinced about his position. _What if it's another hallucination?_ The anxious voice in his head screamed. Junpei zoned out, unaware of the nurse talking next to him.

"Excuse me," the doctor shook Junpei a little, making him jump a little. "I asked if you wanted me to send your friend in. He's the one that brought you. Poor fella's been here all night worried sick about you. He refused to leave and most of us doctors were too scared to shoo him away. He's quite scary looking, if I do say so myself."

"Uh, sure. Send him in, I guess?" Junpei was confused to who the lady was talking about. Who brought him here. How did he get here again?

The doctor simply smiled, nodded and left.

That's when Junpei had a terrifying thought.

What if the guy she was talking about was _Don_? What if this was another hallucination, just a really elaborate one? Dread filled Junpei's chest as he heard footsteps rushing down the halls towards his door. Before Junpei could react, the door was thrown open, revealing his guest.

Akihiko.

Junpei released a breath he didn't realize he was holding and gave a small smile. Maybe this was all real after all. None of his crazy fever dreams had any of his friends, probably because Don didn't know too much about them.

Akihiko walked towards him and sat down in the chair next to him. Fuuka popped her head into the room shortly after, followed by Yukari, Aigis, Mitsuru, Ken and surprisingly Koromaru.

The doctor walked in after all of them. "I guess there are more here to see you, is that alright?" She asked scratching the back of her head.

Junpei nodded and the doctor left him in the company of his friends. They all looked at him with different expressions and Junpei felt compelled to ask them what the hell happened.

"What the hell happened?" Junpei asked, dumbfounded and a bit scared to know the answer.

Everyone in the room sighed, either with content or exasperation, Junpei couldn't tell which one.

"Are you kidding me? Is that really the first thing out of your mouth? You were just kidnapped by some psycho and "what the hell happened" is the first thing out of your mouth?" Yukari scoffed and muttered "Stupei" under her breath.

"Well what else am I supposed to say? I don't even know how the hell I got here! I can barely remember the last few… what hours? How long have I been gone?" Junpei scrunched his face in thought and everyone in the room save for Koromaru glanced at each other with concern. Akihiko spoke up next.

"Junpei, you've been gone for almost a week," he spoke slowly, as if trying not to trigger Junpei to panic mode.

"A… week?" Junpei repeated, mind blank with confusion. "What happened?"

"As far as we know, you were abducted by someone who not only has obtained an evoker, but has also gained power to summon a persona. We haven't found much about him unfortunately, but we were able to track you to his location. When we were extracting you from the site, he put up a barrier with his persona and got away. Trained police are searching for him now, but as far as we know, he's vanished into thin air," Mitsuru supplied too much information, taking Junpei a minute to fully understand what had happened.

"So he's still out there?" Junpei asked, looking to each of his friends with worry plastered on his face.

They all nodded, even Koromaru barked in agreement. Ken shushed him, whispering to the dog that he had to stay quiet or else he'd get thrown out.

"If I may ask, what happened to you Junpei-san?" Aigis spoke up from the group. They all looked at him for an answer and that's when the memories flooded back into his head. He grimaced, pulling up the blanket that was covering his legs. He was wearing a hospital gown and he lifted it just above the ugly red scars on his thighs that had been stitched up. He didn't look up to see his friends' reactions, knowing that they would be horrified. He pulled down the collar of the gown to expose a nasty set of even more stitches littering his throat.

"That bastard really did a number on me," Junpei whispered, folding up his legs to his chest and burying his face in his arms. He was finally aware of all the pain. No matter how many painkillers the doctors had given him, it didn't feel like it was enough. He was sore everywhere and the memories where just as painful if not more so.

Junpei sat in silence wallowing in his own suffering. The feeling of starvation clawed at his stomach, but a sick feeling was there with it that made Junpei want to puke.

He could feel the eyes of the people around him looking at him, but he didn't want their pity. He wanted help. He wanted comfort. He wanted it to all be over.

A hand reached out and started rubbing his back. Koromaru jumped up on the bed with him and licked his leg, trying to make him feel better. Junpei finally lifted his head up to look at them all. Akihiko retracted his hand, almost in an embarrassed way.

"The guy, he told me his name was Don," Junpei started talking, thinking about what to say next. He glanced down at his wrists, noticing the deep red marks the ropes left on them. There were probably matching ones on his ankles. "He said he was trying to find all of us, to kill us. H-He couldn't find too much information, but he did steal some files. He knew about Shinji and Minato. Strega too." Junpei thought about how the persona had shown him detailed visions of Chidori. "He must have found out about our families too, because-" Junpei found it hard to say the next words, thinking about his damn old man.

"What? Because what?" Ken asked. He looked concerned.

"His persona is… different. It has these weird… needle fingers. It sticks the needles in your head and shows you corrupted visions. I saw some messed up shit, man," Junpei shuddered.

"Try not to think about it. Tell us more about the guy," Akihiko steered Junpei away from the memories, trying to get answers.

"He couldn't find out where we were or anything. He told me he built the evoker. The guy is batshit crazy. Must have been one of Takaya's followers, he was talking about the end of the world and how we had ruined it. He supported the whole thing. Like I said, absolutely insane," Junpei shook his head in disbelief.

"By the way," Junpei spoke up again before anyone could get in another word. "How did you find me?"

This time, everyone looked to Fuuka. She looked surprised that all the attention had shifted to her.

"Why don't you tell him?" Mitsuru gestured in Junpei's direction.

"W-Well, you see. I still have my ability to sense you, all of you. It's not as strong, especially since we couldn't summon our personas. I'm not sure how Don used his, but ours were out of the picture. It took a while, I walked around the place where you disappeared. Akihiko managed to find your bag and your cellphone…" Fuuka glanced at a plastic bag that sat on the side table next to Junpei. On closer inspection it looked to contain crushed parts of Junpei's phone. _Great, now I have to get a new one,_ Junpei thought.

"Eventually I caught a trace that I thought was you. We investigated and luckily, we were right!" Fuuka finished with a smile, before going silent and looking down at the floor, fiddling with her braided hair.

"Huh," Was all Junpei could respond with.

"You should've seen senpai, he was livid!" Yukari laughed, looking to Akihiko. "He hit that guy square in the jaw before he could summon his persona. I think he might have even broken a few teeth. I definitely saw him bleeding,"

At that, Junpei smiled. "Good, he deserved that," Junpei gave a short laugh.

"Yeah, he sure did," Akihiko murmured next to him. "Felt good too."

The atmosphere lightened up a little after that. Bad memories finally left Junpei's head and he started talking to his friends for a good hour before they were kicked out. Junpei could finally sleep peacefully, thinking that the whole problem would get sorted out.

It's funny how life can turn from good, to horrible, to ok and back to hell again so fast.

 **Author's Note: Sorry if it took a while to update! I've been a bit busy, but I'm determined to finish this story! Honestly, I feel like a horrible person for writing this and putting Junpei through so much pain. He's my favorite character after all! The thing is, I feel bad while I'm writing, but while I upload I laugh and share a glass of tea with Satan. I have mixed feelings about this. XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter, be ready for more in the future!**


	6. Chapter 6

Junpei stared out the window of his hospital room in a vain attempt to block out all the pain he was feeling. Sure, the nurses had given him aspirin or whatever else that was supposed to nullify it, but it still felt awful. On the bright side, Junpei finally got some food into his stomach. He didn't even puke like he thought he would. Sure, hospital food was pretty nasty, but it tasted better than nothing. It was early in the morning, yet a tired feeling overtook him.

Must be the medications, Junpei thought, his thoughts turning hazy as he sunk into his pillow. He didn't want to fall asleep again, dreading the night terrors that were sure to come back eventually. He knew they wouldn't stop until Junpei had the relieved feeling of knowing Don was either dead or in prison, whichever came first. Honestly, Junpei silently prayed the guy would end up dead. He didn't feel comfortable knowing the guy was out there somewhere. Especially since his friends were also keeping an eye out for the criminal. In fact, the feeling of fear grew in Junpei's stomach. He worried something bad would happen to his friends, and he wouldn't be there to help.

These thoughts plagued his mind until he finally fell asleep.

A sleep that seemed to only last a few minutes. He woke with cold sweat staining the hospital gown, breathing heavily. Yep, one things for sure. Those nightmares weren't going to leave him for a while.

A nurse came in a bit after that, checking up on his heart rate. Apparently his heart rate had gone crazy while he slept and the nurses had been frantic getting to his room. He had to embarrassingly tell them that he only had a nightmare, which sent them off to their other duties.

Junpei stayed sat up in his bed, unable to sleep. He didn't have much to do. The only thing that occupied his mind were bad memories or worrying thoughts.

Junpei jumped out of his skin when the door to his room opened quick and a large group ran towards him. He had another short freak out, but calmed down once he recognized his visitors.

It was only the kids he coached from baseball and they were ecstatic to see him. The room was filled with male and female children's excited chatter crowding around him.

Seeing them again brought a smile back to Junpei's face, a smile he realized he missed dearly. It felt good being, well, happy.

"Hey coach! Where've ya been? You didn't come to practice and you were even on the news! Did ya know?" One of the kids to his left shouted to him.

"Are you ok? What's that on your neck?"

"We missed you!"

All the shouts and loud talking made Junpei's head ache just a tiny bit and he shushed them all.

They all looked at him expectantly. What was he going to say to them? It hit him right then and there.

"All right team! You guys want to hear the story?" Junpei asked in a happy tone with the biggest grin he could muster. All heads bobbed up and down and happy whispers floated through the room.

"Ok, let me tell you what happened. It all started on the same night you guys had seen me last," Junpei began.

He spent an entire hour making up some goofy story about him being captured by the "Anti-Baseball Crew" and him fighting dragons and ridiculous things like that. The kids knew that it was just a story, but it didn't fail to humor them and make them forget to ask what really happened. They laughed the whole way through and seemed genuinely surprised or scared at certain parts in the story.

By the time the story had ended, Akihiko had knocked on the door and come in. The kids appeared wary of him at first, one of the kids even pointing out that Akihiko was part of the Anti-Baseball Crew due to the way he looked.

"Hey Junpei, do you know that guy?"

"Where's his shirt?"

"Woah! That guy looks strong! Do you think I'll ever be that strong?"

The kids started speaking up again. Akihiko probably came to talk more about the incident, most likely for important details or whatever.

"Ok guys, I need to talk to my buddy here. This is really important top secret agent kinda stuff, ok?" Junpei winked to the kids. "You guys can come again tomorrow; I'll still be stuck here."

Just like that, the kids shuffled out of the room, spouting out "goodbyes", "get well soons", and one kid even saying, "you da man!"

Akihiko watched them all leave before sitting in the same chair he was in yesterday and chuckling.

"I arrived here a bit earlier and listened in. Nice story. Those kids really like you," Akihiko smiled as he spoke, watching the door.

Junpei kept smiling and answered, "Yeah, they're all such good kids."

Akihiko turned to him with a serious look this time.

"We need to talk about it. I know you don't like thinking about it, but Mitsuru's asked for a detailed description of everything you remember. It might be painful for you, but it might give us some information for what we're dealing with here," Akihiko spoke in a matter-of-fact way.

"Well, I can't exactly just _avoid_ it. Besides, it's not like I can stop thinking about it anyways…" Junpei trailed off, looking out the window of his room again.

"I guess I'll start on the night I was coachin' the kids on the field," Junpei started.

"Everything was normal; it was a nice night. Nothing was off except for him. He just stood off to the side after practice looking at me. I stayed back and made sure all the kids were safe, seeing as he was a suspicious looking guy. After everyone was gone he approached me, askin if I was Junpei the persona user. That really threw me off, then he freakin launched his persona on me just like that. I got to hit him and called you. That's when-"

"He caught up to you," Akihiko finished for him. "Can you give me a description of the guy?"

Junpei looked up at the ceiling in thought. "He's… tall. Like really tall. 'Bout six feet almost. His eyes are grey, or blue. I forgot. One of those two. I think his hair was brown, but like a dark brown. It was kinda hard to tell, it was always so dark. That and the fact that I mainly focused on the shit he was doing to me," Junpei supplied as much as he could remember, Akihiko scribbling notes beside him.

That's how the rest of the day went for the pair, Junpei retelling painful memories, sometimes giving as much details as he could recall for Akihiko. It wore well on into the evening, Akihiko leaving at one point to get takeout for lunch, which Junpei was eternally grateful for. He really missed the greasy taste of Wild Duck Burger's fries.

It finally turned to around 5:30 pm before they finished up. Akihiko was getting set to leave it seemed, checking all his notes and going over things quickly one more time.

A nurse arrived in the room before Akihiko left.

"Excuse me, Mr. Iori? Someone sent these for you. The tag says, "From Don, your best friend".

The pair froze, staring at the confused nurse as she tried to hand the flowers to Junpei. Akihiko grabbed them instead and looked at the note with frustration.

"I'm sending this to the police station, they might find something," Akihiko stated to Junpei before rushing out the door, nearly shoving the poor nurse out of the way.

"Wait! Is it ok if he takes those?" the nurse pointed to the direction Akihiko went and Junpei nodded his head. The nurse left afterwards, still confused about what had taken place and what the weird shirtless guy had meant about taking roses to a police station.

Junpei was tired. So damn tired. He just wanted all this shit to be over. Why did he have to be the one targeted? Why was Don still teasing him like this?

He laid down for what felt like the hundredth time that day, closing his eyes, hoping for peaceful sleep. That is, until his brain supplied him with a terrifying thought.

 _Don knows exactly where you are._

Junpei bolted up in shock at the thought. Oh god. _Oh god_.

 _I guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight_ , Junpei thought as he looked back and forth from the window and the door for the rest of the night.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the late update! Things are getting a bit crazy here, I've had a lot of writing assignments to do and I haven't been able to put as much attention on this as I'd like! I hope you all are enjoyed my story thus far. I do plan to finish this, no matter what! Sorry if this chapter didn't have much happening in it!**


	7. Chapter 7

It was the worst damn night of Junpei's life. The feeling of fear reminded him of the aching sadness when Chidori passed away. It was strong, almost like adrenaline that coursed through his veins, keeping him awake the entire night. When dawn finally broke, Junpei still felt no better about the situation. The nurse had come in at around 6 o'clock to check on him. She changed some of his bandages and checked up on his stitches, making sure he was doing alright. She hadn't seemed to notice he had been awake for so long, or if she did, she hadn't said anything. She simply asked if he wanted something to eat, which Junpei declined.

Time felt like it was going slower, maybe it was just the small aches and pains Junpei felt through his body, maybe it was the worry eating at him, but minutes began to feel like hours. Junpei eyed a piece of paper on the side table next to his bed. It was on a clipboard and with closer inspection, it appeared to have a list of his injuries and information.

Junpei took the paper from the clipboard and began reading.

 _Patient was admitted on the 12_ _th_ _of April. The patient arrived with the following injuries:_

 _Stab wound in left thigh_

 _Multiple cuts and gashes across neck_

 _Tiny bits of metal imbedded in neck muscles_

Must've been from the barbed wire, Junpei thought.

 _Dehydration_

 _Loss of nutrients_

Even though Junpei hadn't eaten too much after being rescued, he still didn't feel very hungry.

 _Several cuts along both arms_

 _Signs of blood circulation cut off in wrists_

Junpei rubbed his wrists unconsciously. They still felt sore.

 _Large bruise on right cheekbone_

When had he gotten that?

 _Right femur slightly cracked_

Junpei glanced at the cast on his right leg. He had been glad to be informed that his right leg hadn't been completely destroyed from the sledgehammer.

 _Signs of psychological torture_

At the last thing on the list, Junpei scoffed. _Signs_? More like freakin' brain damage from all the bullshit he endured.

Junpei skimmed through the rest of the text on the page before replacing it on the table. He slunk down into his bed further. It was only 8:30 in the morning. Junpei felt exhausted, but every time he closed his eyes he was afraid Don was going to appear when he opened them again.

The entire day passed by with the same slow pace. Junpei finally got himself to eat the terrible hospital food offered, only because he knew it would be better to eat something rather than nothing. He felt sic afterwards but he managed to keep it from coming back up.

No one had come to see him that day, which surprised him more than it should have. They were all busy with their own lives, they didn't have the time to entertain him. The thought of Junpei getting an unwanted visit from Don slowly faded into the back of his head as the day finally ended.

Junpei came back from the bathroom, sitting himself on his bed, the thought of sleep filling his head. A voice broke him out of his thinking.

"Miss me?"

Junpei froze. He turned his head to the window behind him, seeing Don standing off in the corner, staring at him with that stupid smirk on his face.

Junpei opened his mouth to scream. He tried to make any noise at all. He tried to move, run, push the "call nurse" button, _anything_. He was stuck with a terror filled look on his face, staring right at a man who was about to kill him.

Don strode over, sitting next to Junpei on the bed and pushing on his chest to get him to lay back. Junpei didn't protest, no matter how much his brain was screaming bloody murder at him to get the hell out of the room. His brain was so focused on trying to move that the knife cutting his stitches open almost didn't register. It took him a minute, but the minute that they were all open and bleeding again, Junpei finally felt his body unlock. He sat up too fast and fell off the bed. He was roughly grabbed by his leg cast and dragged to the window.

A light green glow caught Junpei's attention. The call nurse button had fallen off the bed. Junpei grabbed the box and pressed the button, hoping a nurse was nearby.

Again, Junpei tried to cry for help, but a cloth was forced nearly down his throat to quiet him. Blood stained the white floors in streaks as he was dragged through the window into the warm ground outside. His wrists were pulled behind his back and a rope secured them together. Junpei finally got the energy to struggle, but it was too late.

He was slung over Don's shoulder and carried away to wherever-land so Don could beat the living shit out of him.

Not even a minute passed after Don evacuated the area with his new cargo in tow when a nurse discovered the room missing its occupant and calling the police station. Akihiko was there to take the call and barely hung up the phone correctly before rushing out into the night towards the hospital, making a few calls on his way over to the rest of S.E.E.S.

\/\/\/\/\/\/

Junpei rhythmically bounced up and down as he was towed away from safety back into nightmare land. He hadn't a clue where he was headed, but by the way Don was staying so quiet, only murmuring to himself periodically, he could tell it wasn't good. When Don finally spoke up, he felt even worse.

"I'm taking you to the edge of town, where I'm going to burn you alive. You've caused me a lot of trouble, you little shit. I'm going to enjoy watching your skin melt," Don growled.

Junpei's felt sick, a layer of sweat spreading across his body, staining his clothes. Junpei felt sick to his stomach and he thought he might pass out from the pressing feeling of fear and exhaustion.

A saving grace occurred when Don rushed into the shadows as a man ran in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. It was Akihiko. Aki hadn't noticed the pair, seemingly focused only on one thing. With the gag in his mouth, Junpei couldn't utter a word. He was staring at a group of metal trash cans in a dark alley, with his only chance at rescue running away. An idea formed in his head.

Junpei swung his head into one of the cans, knocking into the others. His head pounded with pain, but the single can smashed into the others, knocking some to the ground. The end result was a large clanging sound and a sea of garbage sitting on the pavement of an alleyway.

Akihiko glanced at the noise momentarily, before abruptly stopping. Don and Akihiko stared at each other from across the street. Their eyes burned into each other. Don moved quick and ran full speed away from the pissed off person behind him. Akihiko snapped out of the glaring contest once Don made his move and sprinted down the street, crossing it so he was right behind them.

Don moved pretty fast for a guy who looked like a skinny stick, even being able to hold his distance with Junpei being carried across his shoulder.

Junpei himself was trying to wriggle from Don's grasp, but the man had an iron grip. He was not going to give up on his goal even if it meant getting another punch in the face from an enraged boxer. At some point, Junpei watched as Akihiko pulled out his phone and dialed up a number. Junpei couldn't tell who he was talking to or what he was saying, but he guessed it was one of the members of S.E.E.S., Mitsuru if he had to guess.

Don turned down another alleyway and made several turns and jumps over fences. Junpei couldn't see Akihiko anymore, all he heard were his pounding footsteps fading.

Junpei heard the jingling of metal, recognizing the noise as keys. He twisted his body to face where Don was running, seeing a car with a missing licenses plate. The trunk was open.

Junpei's panic grew and he actually thought he was about to puke. He gagged. The cloth in his mouth slipped out and floated to the ground. This was his only chance.

"Akihiko!" Junpei shouted at the top of his lungs.

Junpei was slammed into the trunk and he didn't even get a chance to see if Akihiko had found his way before the trunk door shut the engine started. He heard tires screeching and he was thrown around in the trunk of the car, irritating his open injuries.

The car stayed at a constant speed, making a few turns. Junpei banged his leg on the trunk, trying to pop it open. He was losing too much blood. He felt himself getting weaker.

Junpei gave up. He finally lost the smallest fragment of hope he had been grasping onto. He was in so much pain and his friends would never find him. Junpei had failed. Even when given the chance to save himself several times, he couldn't do anything. He just seized up and panicked.

When the car finally slowed down, Junpei closed his eyes and excepted his fate. He was going to be burned alive.

He waited.

Waited.

The car's driver door had opened, but Don hadn't opened up the trunk. Junpei heard a click and thought he saw a flash of blue light seep through the cracks of the trunk door. Oh. Don wasn't even going to take him out. He was going to burn up the car with him. Junpei held his breath and waited.

Waited.

He thought he heard something outside but he still waited. The noise sounded like a car.

He could hear scuffling outside, some shouting.

He heard a final shout from Don himself before all hell broke loose.

"Your all going to see your friend again! In hell!" Don screamed.

Outside of the car, a large fireball was shot towards the parked vehicle, with Junpei still inside it. The car flipped in the air, tossing its only occupant inside around. The engine exploded and the car was engulfed in flames. A sickening crunch was heard as the car landed in the dirt, on its side.

On the inside, Junpei couldn't breathe very well. Smoke filled the small space and Junpei was weak with pain.

 _How_ _am_ _I still alive_? Junpei couldn't keep his head straight. His ears filled with cracking sounds, making him oblivious to the battle happening outside the burning automobile.

Junpei's hands burned. The rope had come undone somehow. His wounds had been cauterized from the fire seeping its way through the floor. Junpei almost felt like he had floated out of his body. He watched himself use the last of his strength to kick the truck, this time with all four of his limbs taking part. He took a few hits before breaking open.

Junpei crawled out slowly, dragging his limp body out of the wreckage. He could see through the thick smoke a group of people fighting and a tall figure shooting fire at them. His hands touched something on the ground.

A gun.

No, not a gun. It felt familiar somehow. He could hear a voice calling to him.

He raised the gun to his head and sat up on his knees.

"Per-"

Junpei watched the group fall to the ground one by one, the tall figure knocking each one away.

"-So-"

The tall thing began making a noise, almost like laughter.

"-Na."

Junpei clicked the trigger of the evoker, Don's evoker to be exact. In a brilliant flash of light, Trismegistus materialized. Fire spewed from his persona and Trismegistus slashed up the other person in a fury of swipes.

He heard someone cry out in pain and watched as a tall looking guy crumpled to the ground.

Junpei himself couldn't stay awake after summoning his persona and passed out himself.

He didn't remember the car ride in Mitsuru's limousine back to the hospital. He didn't remember any surgery he went through. He finally smiled when he woke up with his friends around him.

 **Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Yay! Happy holidays to all! Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Also, in this story, Chidori is dead for good. She was not revived.**


	8. Chapter 8

Junpei opened his eyes in the hospital once again, his friends around him sporting several bandages, save for Aigis.

"Ech, whereamI?" Junpei's words slurred together as he sat up, gripping the sides of his bed. All his friends turned to him with mixed expressions.

"You're in the hospital, Stupei," Yukari's voice reached Junpei first. "Sheesh, that's the second time you've been kidnapped. It's like you're becoming a professional damsel in distress."

Junpei chuckled at that, hearing the exasperation in Yukari's voice and watching her eyes roll in an exaggerated motion.

"Speak for yourself, Yuka-tan. I'm the one who saved you with my awesome persona skills!" Junpei grinned and pointed at her with finger guns.

Yukari rolled her eyes again. "You passed out after you summoned the thing," she answered.

Junpei put on a fake hurt expression and replied, "Yuka-tan, how could you hurt me so?"

"Sheesh Stupei, I'm surprised you even remember what happened. I thought you had hit your head hard enough on the ground," Yukari answered back, gently face palming, but moving her hand when she accidently brushed against one of her bandages.

Junpei winced. "Geez, you all got burned pretty bad," he said, looking at each of his friends and examining their injuries.

"Not as bad as yours, have a look at yourself," Akihiko spoke up next to him pointing at his face.

Junpei poked his face and hissed when it proved painful. He glanced at his arms and legs, noting each mark and burn, all the stitches and the spots that felt numbest.

"Shit, if I get any more stitches I might turn into a rag doll," Junpei remarked, picking at one of the stitches on his leg that itched until Akihiko swatted his hand away.

"At least I don't have to worry about shaving for a while," Junpei felt the mop of hair on his head that felt remarkably lighter than usual. He had definitely lost plenty of hair on his head, arms and legs.

"You shave? I would never have never guessed," Yukari joked with a mock expression.

Junpei grinned at her and rubbed his legs in a fake seductive way before his face darkened.

"So, uh… what happened to Don?" He knew he was going to find out eventually, but he was scared to hear the answer.

"Allow me to answer that, Junpei-san. After you attacked him with your persona, I was able to stop him from running away with these," Aigis' finger tips opened up and her machine guns could be heard loading. Mitsuru immediately stood up.

"Er, Aigis. You don't need to load them. We get it," Mitsuru pointed Aigis' guns to the ground.

"Understood. I was able to stop him from escaping again. However, before he could be properly apprehended, he chose to kill himself instead of facing the consequences. He had a hidden gun in his pocket, which he used to shoot himself," Aigis finished the retelling and the room fell silent.

"…Damn," Was all Junpei could say. He had really expected Don to shoot someone else as a last resort.

"I am glad that Akihiko was able to contact us so quickly, as Mitsuru was able to catch up rather quickly in the limousine. She drove like a, as they say, "professional off-roader". She drove through at least 5 red lights and Koromaru almost flew out of the window on the one turn we made-" Aigis wanted to continue, but Mitsuru interrupted.

"Let's… not talk about that," Mitsuru covered Aigis' mouth with her hand and Junpei laughed aloud.

"Mitsuru, I didn't know you had it in you!" Junpei exclaimed. "How many tickets did you get from that?"

The conversation continued like this throughout the rest of the day and Junpei even had enough energy to sneak out of the hospital with his friends to go eat out somewhere. It only took a small number of bills to bribe the nurses to keep quiet, but the rest of the day went well and kept the group relaxed and relieved that the events were finally over.

A few days later, Junpei was finally released back out of the hospital and got back to coaching the kids. They even won the next game they played!

The whole ordeal was not mentioned by the group in a silent agreement that no-one wanted to talk about it ever again. That wasn't to say that Junpei didn't have the occasional nightmare or random pain come from one of his old injuries, but Junpei felt that it was finally all over. He knew to count on his friends to support him if he really needed it, or he would support them.

Cue the events of Persona Arena Ultimax.

 **Author's Notes: It's done! I finished! This one was basically just a wrap up chapter, but I want to take a moment to thank everyone for commenting! Your comments really helped me to keep going through with this story and thank you for all your positive feedback! I had thoughts and a basic idea for making this story a little bit longer, but I think I'd rather just leave it at this. The end of this story doesn't mean the end of Junpei-centric angst fics though. I've noticed an empty void in this fandom for Junpei related things, so I'm working to fill that void. I'll keep writing persona fics, just mixed in with other fandom stories that I will write and publish. Probably.**


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